


The Major Arcana

by moemachina



Series: Final Fantasy Tarot Deck [5]
Category: Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/369775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moemachina/pseuds/moemachina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a tarot deck, the Fool is both the highest and lowest trump. The Fool carries a rose. The Fool is not lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Major Arcana

**00 THE FOOL: Ramza Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)**

The stables smelled like chocobo shit, but Ramza inhaled deeply anyway. The air was redolent with anticipation and destiny. Igros' livestock had never smelled like this.

"Can you believe we're finally cadets?" he asked. "When bards write epics about us, they'll start with this day."

"We're mucking out stables today," the other boy said patiently.

Ramza laughed. "They'll leave that out, because they'll need lots of space for our glorious battles and death-defying feats. Today is just the beginning of our adventure. Tomorrow is the epic."

Delita shrugged and picked up his shovel. "Epics might be better with some muck."

  


**01 THE MAGICIAN: Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)**  


His mother's name was Jenova. These things are not coincidence.

The basement is filled with decades-old research detritus. A table is stacked with lab junk: syringes, a bent specimen case, a kerosene lantern, and a broken glass pipette.

These are his options:

He is a monster made from Mako. He is an abandoned bastard. He is the product of a parasite. He is the heir to a bleeding planet.

The specimen case contains dead moths, which he cradles in his hand. Crumbling wings slip through his fingers.

But he has options.

Sephiroth makes his choice and picks up the lantern.

  


**02 THE HIGH PRIESTESS: Aerith Gainsborough (Final Fantasy VII)**  


She lived in molasses.

She moved slowly, every muscle hampered by a dozen destinies and preconditions. In her teeth and sinuses, she felt the sluggish rotation of the planet -- and beyond that, the gentle ache of a thousand cobwebbed galaxies.

Her decisions were ordained by ocean currents and wood lice. Others could make the wrong choices: blunder off the proper path, sleep with the wrong guy, abandon an agonizing legacy. Others struggled. Not her.

Everything tasted sweet to her.

At the end, she could have moved. But she was already drowning in molasses, so she didn't see the point.

  


**03 THE EMPRESS: Terra Branford (Final Fantasy VI)**  


Lying on the deck of Setzer's airship, Terra can feel every vibration from the engines. Her eyes are closed. The sun's heat saturates her lips, her bare feet, and the shifting tendrils of her hair.

"We've got sandwiches," Relm says from her left.

"Oh, don't bother her," Setzer says from behind the wheel.

"But they've got cheese!" Relm says.

"I think she's beyond sandwiches at the moment," Setzer says.

The heartbeat of the airship thumps beneath her. The others are eating sandwiches and laughing.

"Mmmm," says Terra, but she is thinking: _This must be what a flower feels._

  


**04 THE EMPEROR: Gestahl (Final Fantasy VI)**  


They bring him fresh orange juice in the mornings.

When they pull the curtains back, he can see all of Vector from his bed. Everything is gleaming metal; everything has right angles. The trains trundle between buildings like centipedes in the grass, and the smog is stained peach by the rising sun.

While he surveys his domain, they lay out his clothes and prepare his medication. They have to help him out of bed for his sponge bath.

If he wanted, he could command them to kill themselves. And they would do it.

Instead, he asks for more orange juice.

  


**05 THE HIEROPHANT: Baralai (Final Fantasy X-2)**  


He wakes every morning to hymns.

He remembers singing those hymns himself as a sleepy acolyte. At the time, it had been hard to stick to his purpose while singing in the cold, poring over illegible records and manuscripts, and eating three daily meals of ascetic gruel.

Now he is praetor. He must teach a new crop of acolytes that the illegible teachings of a discredited religion are worth harvesting.

He wears a button, a tiny metal skull, on a chain around his neck. When he rolls over, it presses painfully against his collarbone.

On some mornings, belief is hard.

  


**06 THE LOVERS: Cecil Harvey (Final Fantasy IV)**

"I don't have the courage to disobey His Majesty."

He felt her stiffen before she said, "The Cecil I know would never whimper like this."

He opened his eyes. He had expected gentle reassurance, not a flat verdict. For a moment, neither spoke; they just breathed angrily into the dark.

Then Rosa sat up beside him. Her voice was strained as she said, "You're...going to Mist tomorrow, right? If anything should happen..."

It was the closest thing to an apology he would get, Cecil knew. He reached over and gently squeezed her ankle.

"Don't worry. Kain is coming too."

  


**07 THE CHARIOT: Seymour Guado (Final Fantasy X)**  


At first, he hadn't wanted it. Now, he can't remember why.

People are screaming. The stadium is filling with monsters.

His mother comes when he calls her. She looks different, now that she is dead. She towers above him, and her chains rattle when she howls. She smells slightly of rotting fish. Dead monsters rain down around her.

He had cried the first time he saw that -- but then, he had been a child who still trusted in the righteous cogs of the universe.

He learned better.

She is just a means to an end. So is he.

  


**08 STRENGTH: Yuna (Final Fantasy X)**  


People on the Lucan docks recognize her. Some try to touch the hem of her dress. By the time she reaches the stadium gates, Yuna's face aches from smiling.

Now she regrets splitting away from the group. But she hasn't had a moment by herself in a week--

And suddenly she's sobbing hysterically, because it's a lot to bear, and everyone _touches_ her, and someone had asked her about "Spira's future" and she--

She takes a shuddering breath and wipes tears and mucus away. By the time Tidus comes, bounding like a golden retriever puppy, she's smiling again.

  


**09 THE HERMIT: Shadow (Final Fantasy VI)**  


"Not much of a blade."

"It's a palette knife," Relm said. "It's not supposed to cut anything."

He nodded as he tossed the knife up and down. "Good balance, though."

"It's for spreading paint on the canvas. My instructor said I had a magnificent grasp of impasto technique."

"Guess you could hurt someone if you threw it hard enough."

Relm blinked. "Yeah? That's really...could you teach me to do that?"

The knife went still. "Not much of a teacher."

"Oh."

The knife lifted, hit the wall, and stuck there. "Guess I could try. Guess you could teach me impasto."

  


**10 WHEEL OF FORTUNE: Laguna Loire (Final Fantasy VIII)**  


"Great view, huh?"

The young man nodded silently. From the presidential suite, they could see the crystal spires and streets of Esthar. The city's axles and spokes spilled away in every direction.

"I'm glad you came. I wasn't sure you would...and, um, would you like some coffee or something?" Laguna giggled nervously. "I still haven't completely figured out the machine, but I think _this_ switch should--"

There was a muffled boom from beneath their feet, and a second later, the ceiling sprinklers kicked in.

"...Maybe that's not the coffee-maker."

His son watched him, damply and without expression.

  


**11 JUSTICE: Agrias Oaks (Final Fantasy Tactics)**  


The rain got in her eyes and did nothing to improve her mood.

"You're not expected to help," she said stiffly. "This is obviously beyond your original assignment."

Gafgarion shrugged. "Larg is good for the money, I suspect. And, obviously, this falls outside your original duty as well, madam knight."

Agrias sniffed. "My obligation to Ivalice is unbounded. Ovelia was, and remains, my responsibility. I will rescue her and bring her kidnapper to justice without your assistance."

"Ah," Gafgarion said. "Bad luck for that poor bastard who grabbed the princess, I guess."

"Oh, yes," Agrias said slowly. "Bad luck indeed."

  


**12 THE HANGED MAN: Tidus (Final Fantasy X)**  


They spent the night playing checkers on Cid's airship. Everyone else was sensibly asleep.

"You nervous about tomorrow?"

"What? Oh...no, not really," she giggled. "Mostly, it will be a relief, I think, to finally finish everything."

Tidus smiled, but his throat was tight with all the things he hadn't told her.

"And when I get nervous, I just think of our pilgrimage and how much worse it was. Because...well. At least now, we're..." She flushed and dropped her eyes. "It's better."

"Here, king me."

"Are you afraid? Of fighting Sin tomorrow?" she asked.

"No," he said. "Not anymore."

  


**13 DEATH: Auron (Final Fantasy X)**  


Sir Auron and Yuna sat on the terrace, gravely drinking tea together.

"I suppose you stayed at this inn on my father's pilgrimage, Sir Auron."

"Perhaps. I don't remember. Things...have changed." In the dim light of the paper lanterns, he seemed distant and tired, and Yuna suddenly wanted to hug him. She sternly squelched the impulse.

From downstairs, they heard Tidus laugh at something.

"He is so much like Jecht," Auron said suddenly.

"Do you think?"

"In some ways. But...neither of you are your fathers," Auron said, looking up at the stars. "And I am glad of it."

  


**14 TEMPERANCE: Lulu (Final Fantasy X)**  


"I won't let her die, Lulu."

"Mmm?" Lulu looked up from her needle and thread. She was repairing a doll's torn seam.

"Yuna. I'm going to save her," Tidus said. "Somehow."

"My goodness. I'm glad you're here to solve all the inconveniences of this pilgrimage," she said. Tidus looked at her sharply, but her face was blankly tranquil as she resumed sewing.

"Anyway. So, you've been here before? Through all of...this?" he said, gesturing to the endless plains before them.

"Oh, yes," she said, her silver needle flashing in and out. "Yes, I know the Calm Lands very well."

  


**15 THE DEVIL: Kain Highwind (Final Fantasy IV)**  


He keeps her in the dark because he doesn't want to see her raw wrists or her bruises. Or her eyes.

"Kain."

He nearly raped her yesterday. He's still not sure why he didn't. Could it be that he still has some standards? Some chivalry? Some hope? But no, there's no hope. He's still twisted. He's still sick with love -- for both of them.

"Kain. It doesn't have to be like this."

He laughs. "But it does, Rosa. It does. Because it's always been like this."

He keeps her in the dark because he can't bear her to see him.

  
**16 THE TOWER: Kefka Palazzo (Final Fantasy VI)**

On the top of his magnificent tower, God-Emperor Kefka sullenly sipped blood through a twisty straw.

It was saltier than expected, but after going to such troubles with the maidens and leeches, he felt he ought to enjoy every last drop, damn it.

He wasn't sure what he would do afterward. The day was young, but he was tired of collecting teeth, and you could throw people out of high windows only so many times before the novelty erodes. Maybe some Light of Judgment? Or some knitting?

The truth: the terrible God-Emperor -- feared and worshipped in equal measure -- was bored.

  


**17 THE STAR: Setzer Gabbiani (Final Fantasy VI)**  


"It was when she stabbed herself on stage last month," Setzer said. "Her lover had perished in a shipwreck or something, but Maria died very prettily, and I realized that here was the actress who could teach me sobriety and solemnity."

"Ah," Celes said, shuffling the deck.

"I lack the actual graces, of course, but I hope to fake them one day."

"How tragic that you got me instead," Celes said, dealing cards.

"No," Setzer said slowly, "I suspect you and yours can teach me better things. After all, a man gets sick of nothing but sobriety and shipwrecked lovers."

  


**18 THE MOON: Rydia (Final Fantasy IV)**  


He is uneasy with her. He brings her water, handkerchiefs, and ribbons -- the little things he might bring a child -- and he treats her as an awkward uncle might.

She is a woman to the others, but to Cecil, she is still just a child. There are some evenings she could slap him.

On other evenings, she just wants to stroke his hair.

She melodramatically confides in her monsters, who are already bored. She flirts with her companions, who revere her as an exotic freak.

She tries to take comfort in knowing she is still just a girl to Cecil.

  


**19 THE SUN: Edgar Roni Figaro (Final Fantasy VI)**  


He appeared at breakfast once, covered in grease and dust, but otherwise he vanished into his clanging engines.

In his absence, she haunted his library, walked his battlements, and liberated strawberry preserves from his kitchen.

One day, she found him asleep in his mother's chapel. Rain drummed against stained-glass windows. He didn't look dead, but for a moment she had the lurching sensation that one of them was a ghost.

"Why, Terra," he said, opening his eyes. "I think I have just dreamed the solution to a most perplexing problem."

"Yes, Edgar," she said to questions unasked and heretofore forgotten.

  


**20 JUDGMENT: Faris Scherwiz (Final Fantasy V)**  


After the deckhand was whipped, Bartz found the pirate captain watching the sunset.

"It was an ugly business today," he said suddenly.

"Yes," Bartz said.

"But discipline," the captain said harshly. "My ship must have discipline."

Bartz said nothing, and at last the captain stirred.

"What I need is a swim to clear me thoughts," he said to himself -- and with that, he started over the ship's rail.

"Wait," Bartz said. " _Now_?"

"Of course now," the captain said. "We're barely moving."

"Then...then, I'm coming with you. There might be sharks or something."

"Fine," Faris said. "But keep your distance."

  


**21 THE WORLD: Alma Beoulve (Final Fantasy Tactics)**  


Standing there, he can see the jumble of past and future: his death overlying his conquest overlapping his birth.

But she can see her brother.

He watches his thwarted destiny come untangled: the slaughtered sheep, the burning pyres, the bloody altars. This time, things will go as planned. This time, things will be better.

But she can see her brothers: the phosphorescent dead beside the blood-stained living. This time, they stand together.

And he can see them too.

His nerves writhe; his blood slows; his cells revolt. Her resolve thickens; his resurrection flounders.

"Stop that," he says.

"No," she says.

  


**22 THE FOOL REDUX: Delita Hyral (Final Fantasy Tactics)**  


He dreamed he was the conductor for an orchestra of the dead. There were only two people in the audience: a brother and a sister, eating poppy petals and giggling.

He woke on the ground when his chocobo began nudging him. He might have slept for minutes. Or for years.

He dazedly stood up and mounted the creature. He did not feel any pain, though his hands and surcoat were stained red.

He did not look behind him. He knew what he would see.

Instead, he urged his chocobo forward, and they both walked, step by step, into the sunset.

**Author's Note:**

> In the spring of 2006, I wrote 79 100-word drabbles -- one drabble a day -- for a project in which a Final Fantasy character was assigned to each card in the tarot deck. (A Final Fantasy Tarot deck is not an idea original to me; I stole the general concept from the much-missed Salah circa 1998.) 
> 
> In its original LiveJournal conception, one could re-order the tagged entries according to date, game, or suit. In the slightly less hyperlinked context of A03, I've organized the drabbles according to suit -- each of which has, as I'd forgotten, its own narrative-like progression of symbols and concerns as it climbs in number. ( _Hey, neat_ , I thought.)
> 
> For some of the cards, I wrote multiple drabbles -- and I still like two of them very much. For lack of a better place to put them, here they are:
> 
>   
> 
> 
> **Agrias Oaks: Dominoes**  
> 
> 
>   
> 
> 
> "I can't believe it," Agrias muttered. "I can't believe we're hiding in a cemetery because the innkeeper caught you _cheating at dominoes_."
> 
> "Shhh," Mustadio said. "I think they're getting closer."
> 
> Agrias swore as they dropped to the ground behind a monolithic gravestone. They were lying inches apart in the mud, listening to the hunting dogs on the hill. The innkeeper, it seemed, had friends with resources.
> 
> "Mustadio," Agrias said, "how on earth _does_ one cheat at dominoes?"
> 
> "Why?" Mustadio whispered in her ear. "Do you want to learn?"
> 
> Even the dogs on the hill could hear his yelp of pain.  
> 
> 
>   
> **Edgar Roni Figaro: Happily Ever After**  
> 
> 
>   
>  He wakes feeling dark and sarcastic. It only gets worse. He stubs his toe; he breaks a lathe; he mocks the maids.
> 
> By tea, he is exhausted and brittle.
> 
> "I have half a mind, my dear, to abdicate and don sackcloth and ashes. It can't be any worse than this."
> 
> She eats a watercress sandwich.
> 
> "Are you still leaving tomorrow?"
> 
> She swallows. "Depends on the weather."
> 
> Several things -- guilt, grief, relief -- slide across his face, but she recognizes the sardonic expression that settles, and she raises an involuntary hand. "Don't," she says.
> 
> "All right," he says at last. "I won't."


End file.
